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{{Infobox Military Conflict
|image=[[Image:Greekfire-madridskylitzes1.jpg|center|300px]]
|caption=[[Greek fire]], first used by the [[Byzantine Navy]] during the Byzantine-Arab Wars.
|conflict=Byzantine-Arab Wars
|partof=the [[Muslim conquests]]
|date=629-1180
|place= Levant, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Anatolia, Crete, Sicily, Southern Italy
(contracted; show full)
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | [[Al-Baladhuri]]<ref>Al-Baladhuri, [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/yarmuk.html The Battle of the Yarmuk (636) and after]<br/>* Sahas (1972), 23</ref>{{ndash}} According to the Muslim historian of the 
nin9th  century, local populations regarded Byzantine rule as oppressive, and preferred Muslim rule instead.{{cref|a}}
|}
According to Muslim biographies, in 630 [[Prophet Muhammed]] led a force of as many as 30,000 north to [[Tabouk]] in present-day northwestern [[Saudi Arabia]], with the intention of engaging the Byzantine army. Though not a [[battle of Tabouk|battle]] in the typical sense, if historical the event would represent the first Arab expedition against the Byzantines, which however did not lead to a mi(contracted; show full)The local Christian [[Copts]] welcomed the Arabs just as the Monophysites did in Jerusalem.<ref name="Read97">Read (2003), 97</ref> The loss of this lucrative province deprived the Byzantines of their valuable wheat supply, thereby causing bread shortages throughout the Byzantine Empire and in its soldiers' rations in the following decades.<ref>Haldon (1999), 167; Tathakopoulos (2004), 318</ref>

====Conquest of the remaining Byzantine territories in North Africa====

[[Image:ByzantineDromon.jpg|thumb||right|A [[Byzantine art|Byzantine fresco]] showing a [[dromon]]. Byzantium was the dominant sea-power of the 7th century.]]⏎
In 647, an Arab army led by [[Abdallah ibn al-Sa’ad]] moved into the Byzantine [[Exarchate of Africa]]. [[Tripolitania]] was taken, followed by [[Sufetula]], {{convert|150|mi|km}} south of [[Carthage]], and the governor and self-proclaimed Emperor of Africa [[Gregory the Patrician|Gregory]] was killed. Abdallah's booty-laden force returned to Egypt in 648 after Gregory's successor, Gennadius, promised them an annual tribute of some 300,000 ''[[nomismata]]''.<ref>Treadgold (1997), 312</ref>

[[Image:ByzantineDromon.jpg|thumb|250px|right|A [[Byzantine art|Byzantine fresco]] showing a [[dromon]]. Byzantium was the dominant sea-power of the 7th century.]]⏎
Following a [[First Fitna|civil war]] in the Arab Empire the [[Umayyad Dynasty|Umayyads]] came to power under [[Muawiyah I]]. Under the Umayyads the conquest of the remaining Byzantine territories in North Africa was completed and the Arabs were able to move across large parts of [[Maghreb]], entering into [[Hispania#Visigothic Hispania|Visigothic Spain]] through the [[Strait of Gibraltar]] under the command of the Berber general [[Tariq ibn-Ziyad]].<ref name="Read97"/> But this happened onl(contracted; show full)
*Quotes translated from the Spanish by Helen R. Lane in ''Count Julian'' by [[Juan Goytisolo]]. 1974. New York: The Viking Press, Inc. ISBN 0-670-24407-4 [http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0670244074]</ref>}}


[[Image:Solidus-Justinian II-Christ b-sb1413.jpg|thumb|left|In spite of Justinian II's turbulent reign, his coinage still bore the traditional "<small>[[Pax Romana|PAX]]</small>", ''peace''.]]⏎
Moreover, as Gibbon writes, "this Mahometan Alexander, who sighed for new worlds, was unable to preserve his recent conquests. By the universal defection of the Greeks and Africans he was recalled from the shores of the Atlantic." His forces were directed at putting down rebellions, and in one such battle he was surrounded by insurgents and killed. Then, the third governor of Africa, Zuheir, was overthrown by a powerful army, sent from Constantinople by [[Constantine IV]] for the relief of [[Carthage]].<ref name="Gibbon"/> Meanwhile, a [[Second Fitna|second Arab civil war]] was raging in [[Arabia]] and Syria resulting in a series of four caliphs between the death of Muawiyah in 680 and the ascension of [[Abd al-Malik]] in 685, and was ongoing until 692 with the death of the rebel leader.<ref>Karen Armstrong: ''Islam: A Short History''. New York, NY, USA: The Modern Library, 2002, 2004  ISBN 0-8129-6618-X</ref>

[[Image:Solidus-Justinian II-Christ b-sb1413.jpg|thumb|250px|Although Justinian II had a turbulent reign, his coinage still bore the traditional "<small>[[Pax Romana|PAX]]</small>", ''peace''.]]⏎
The Saracen Wars of [[Justinian II]], last Emperor of the [[Heraclian Dynasty]], "reflected the general chaos of the age".<ref name="Europe245"/> After a successful campaign he made a truce with the Arabs, agreeing on joint possession of [[Armenia]], [[Caucasian Iberia|Iberia]] and [[Cyprus]]; however, by removing 12,000 [[Christian]] [[Mardaites]] from their native [[Lebanon]], he removed a major obstacle for the Arabs in Syria, and in 692, after the disastrous [[Battle of Sebastopolis]], the Muslims conquered all Armenia.<ref name="Justinian">[[1911 Encyclopedia Britannica]] [http://7.1911encyclopedia.org/Justinian_II_Rhinotmetus]</ref> Deposed in 695, with [[Carthage]] lost in 698, Justinian returned to power from 705-711.<ref name="Europe245">Davies (1996), 245</ref> His second reign was marked by Arab victories in Asia Minor and civil unrest.<ref name="Justinian"/> Reportedy, he ordered his guards to execute the only unit that had not deserted him after one battle, to prevent their desertion in the next.<ref name="Europe245"/>

===Arab sieges of Constantinople===
{{main articles|Siege of Constantinople (674–678)|Siege of Constantinople (717–718)}}⏎
{{rquote|right|All roads lead to Rome.|Common Arab saying<ref> In this context, the saying applied to overcoming the might of the Romans and taking Nova Roma itself, being Constantinople.</ref>}}⏎
{{main articles|Siege of Constantinople (674–678)|Siege of Constantinople (717–718)}}

In 674 the Umayyad Caliph Muawiyah I besieged [[Constantinople]] under [[Constantine IV]]. In this battle, the Umayyads were unable to breach the [[Theodosian Walls]] and blockaded the city along the River [[Bosporus]]. The approach of winter however forced the besiegers to withdraw to an island {{convert|80|mi|km}} away.<ref name="Walls">''[http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=S759X~ser=FOR The Walls of Constantinople, AD 324–1453]'', [[Osprey Publishing]], ISBN 1-84176-759-X.</ref>

However, prior to the siege a Christian [[refugee]] from Syria named Kallinikos (Callinicus) of [[Baalbek|Heliopolis]] had recently invented for the Byzantine Empire a devastating new weapon that came to be known as "[[Greek fire]]".<ref name="Theophanes"/><ref name="Walls"/> In 677, the [[Byzantine navy]] used the weapon to decisively defeat the Umayyad navy in the [[Sea of Marmara]], resulting in the lifting of the siege in 678. Among those killed in the siege was Eyup, the standard bearer of Muhammed and the last of his companions; to Muslims today, his tomb is considered one of the holiest sites in Istanbul.<ref name="Walls"/> The Byzantine victory halted the Umayyad expansion into [[Europe]] for almost thirty years.

[[Image:Byzantijnse stadsmuren.JPG|thumb|300px|lefright|The [[Theodosian Walls]] of [[Constantinople]].]]
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The initial conflict came to a close during the reigns of the Byzantine Emperor [[Leo III the Isaurian]] and the Umayyad Caliph [[Umar II|Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz]], after the [[Second Arab siege of Constantinople]] in (717-718), where the Arab ground forces, led by [[Maslama]],<ref name="Walls"/> were defeated by Constantinople's walls and the timely arrival of allied [[Bulgars|Bulgar]] forces even as the Umayyad naval fleet was defeated by Greek fire:

(contracted; show full)[[Category:Battles involving the Umayyad Caliphate]]

[[ar:حروب العرب والبيزنطيين]]
[[cs:Byzantsko-arabské války]]
[[fr:Guerres entre Arabes et Empire byzantin]]
[[it:Guerre arabo-bizantine (780-1180)]]
[[nl:Byzantijns-Arabische oorlogen]]
[[ru:Арабо-византийские войны]]